Finding Friends
by rfarleydude97
Summary: An story based on real events fiction tells us a story about one of the many but important lessons of life: Just because you know everyone, doesn't make them all your friend right away. Other fiction series appearances: Pokemon. (FYI: Story is MAINLY based on in real events so fictional appearances and settings don't appear until later into the story. Self-insertion Pokemon)
1. Chapter 1: A Regular Day

"The person who tries to keep everyone happy often ends up feeling the loneliest."

"Life is one wonderful treasure that is mysterious but yet the best blessing anyone on Earth can really get. Purpose, freedom, love, health and family are one of the many treasures in life that one should have in their lifetime, barring any incidents that will rob anyone of such opportunity of the many blessings of life itself. One of those blessings is of course something that anyone on Earth would love to have and keep as a consistent cast of characters, but sometimes it's easier said then done, and that said treasure that's important? Friends.

Having friends in a massive but yet interesting world should be really important to anyone. Having friends can teach us an abundance of lessons in life such as patience, how to main social interaction and more! It's important as well to find friends that deep down have respect for you and not the type of people that would leave that quick when you are used up like a used toy from your childhood in a chest.

Unfortunately, there are always going to be people in this world who think they might have friends and feel really good about themselves, only to figure out that those same people don't have that same love and respect for that person." - a mysterious voice.

* * *

On a bright Monday morning, a boy by the name of Richard got up from his bed with the typical enthusiasm he has at the beginning of each week to start it off on the right foot.

"What a nice day!" he proclaimed excitedly.

He then realized he had to get ready for school, so he quickly got started on his daily routine that included getting his clothes ready for the day, a nice warm shower, brushing his teeth and having a nice nutritious breakfast to cap off the daily pre-routine for school.

He then walks out his front door and starts his weekly journey to school as per usual. The walk to his school was pretty typical like any other, but it was unique in it's own right. He walked through a really nice community park that was decently sized, a small part of the neighborhood and then walking down a small hill with a bridge that's right above an Amtrak line heading to Los Angeles. And to top it all off, a nice walk up towards the school from the sidewalk up a curve walk into the campus of the school he's been going to for a good while now: University City High School.

The High School (in Richard's eyes) was a lot more than just an education hub where he can come in, do his work and take one step closer towards the foundation of his career, it was a place where he could sharpen his social skills and expand upon from it. A lot of his friends he had met prior to coming to UC, but it's not a shocker to suggest that he would make just a bit more like he did before.

The question was more so of this: Are those friends that he has a lot of are actually his friends?

Usually the first thing Richard does once he arrives at school is hang out with one of his groups of friends he personally has a lot of positive feelings and thoughts for, his friend group of Sam, Eloy, and Ryan. The four friends usually gather together near the front of the school gate to discuss what they've done the past weekend, talk about the upcoming week, their comment interests like video games and just about anything you would expect from a group of guys who have mutual respect and love for each other.

"Let's make this week another positive footing for us boys!" proclaimed Richard very excitingly. "Gotta make sure we know what we need to do"

"You bet!" replied Ryan. "Have to make sure we keep our game up." While the other guys agreed as well.

As they continued the conversation as per usual, a beautiful white blonde girl passed by them. Her brassy yellow blonde hair was a familiar scent and sight to Richard's eyes. It was one of the friends that he knew since 7th grade in middle school that not only he has mutual respect and is friends with, she's also someone that he's had a crush on for a while: Nicole.

"Hey Richie!" she said, as she walked by. "See you during 3rd period" as she walked by with a smile on her face and as she walked out of the picture, Richard couldn't help but be phased by how beautiful she looks. He then realized the other part of it which is reality for him: He doesn't have a chance with her.

But despite that, he quickly resumed the conversation topic that was at hand.

"COD was pretty funny last night, you saw how Eloy got murked 1v2 and how I went in there and it was a 1v3 and I just killed all 3 of them and killed the last one with a pistol?" said Richard.

"You were lucky to even have that if I didn't point out the amount they were committing while Sam was trying to defuse." replied Eloy, with a slight chuckle.

Richard agreed with a hum, but still proclaimed that taking out 3 enemies was a key to victory.

Then, the bell rung for everyone to go to their 1st period class in 5 minutes.

"See you guys at lunch." said Sam. Everyone then went their separate ways to their first period class.


	2. Chapter 2: Dominoes Fall

"To be your friend was all I ever wanted; to be your lover was all I ever dreamed." - Valerie Lombardo

* * *

The school bell for students to go to their 3rd period class has rung. For Richard, his 3rd period of school was his English class. It was also the class period that Nicole walked by him and told him "See you during 3rd period." it got him wondering; what did she mean by that? Was it just a simple message of see you soon or is something going to happen regarding the both of them or just Richard overthinking like always?

Richard walked into class and walked his way to a four person table that he and Nicole both were matched at, along with two of their other friends George and Estefany. George is one of Richard and Nicole's friends, a big football fan just like Richard and both have similar personalities with some traits that they have different from one another. Estefany, another close friend to Richard and Nicole more so similar to Nicole in terms of how beautiful both women looked (to Richard's eyes at least) and how both have similar mindsets of planning and how they act socially.

"You guys ready for that project due on Friday?" said George, as he opened up the conversation line for the class period within the group.

"We sure are!" proclaimed Estefany. "What about you Richie? I know you've been excited about this one" she added.

Richard thought about it for a moment. While he was excited about the project where the students have to premiere a video about why either early school times were good or bad, he was a bit nervous about how Nicole would view the video in her eyes. Richard also knows that he shouldn't put too many eggs into that basket of whether it would be the best video she has seen from the class, he still would like to earn more points in impressing her.

"Yeah of course!" he replied. "I'm excited for everyone to see it. I've been working hard on it with my own creativity that helps to explore the topic."

Mr. Pores, the English teacher for this class period, walked up to the front of the class to reiterate the project once more to the class of when it was due and guidelines behind the project. "In addition to the video, I would like for all of you to also write an essay with your analysis of the topic at hand and being able to present the argument of which side you're on."

Richard moaned slightly, but he knew that was part of the journey towards getting the best grade in the class, so he had to tackle this head on with the right amount of effort, research, and focus. Nicole could sense that vibe from Richard while both are sitting next to each other at the table.

"I wonder if that's you getting ready to become crafty and creative with this project huh?" she kindly teased.

"You could say that." Richard replied, with slight embarrassment of the fact that she noticed one of his quirks. "I just hope it's enough for the best grade of the project."

The bell to end 3rd period has rung, the students all got up to leave the class and head next to their 4th period class. Richard's 4th period class was pretty unique for what it was, it's basically a study period at the library and also a chill period for him. But today is something that Richard has not only been excited for but also dreading for a while since he ever liked Nicole: Asking her out.

You see, Richard has been planning this for weeks now and always relied on verified tips from some of her friends and some of his own that know Nicole well to give him the reassurance that this plan would work. But as we all know of course, confidence is key and that's a skill that Richard would need to work on for this to work.

"Ready for this plan to work? I'm so excited for you!" said Jennifer, twin sister of Nicole. "I really hope it works out for the both of you!"

"I hope so." said Richard, with slight nervousness. "I just hope it works out"

As Jennifer sat down with him to further discuss how this would all work out and how the plan would be set in place, one of Richard's quirks is when he comes up with a bunch of scenarios in his that are either positive or negative and overwhelm himself to the point where his mentality towards the occasion is unstable.

"You'll be fine Richard! Be confident and poised like you are always." Jennifer said, as she tries to pump motivation into Richard.

After thinking about a bunch of scenarios and feeling unsure about the situation, Richard decided that the endgame that he wants to achieve with this situation isn't going to happen in the state that he's in.

"You're right Jennifer." he replied. "I need to be exactly what you told me. I'm going to make it happen, despite my history!"

"Atta boy!" said Jennifer, with clear enthusiasm for her friend. "Let's go to lunch and make this happen!"

* * *

As both of them head to lunch and while Jennifer went to tell the other friends that were there at the parking lot of what is about to happen, Richard quickly texted his other group of friends that he won't be there with them to lunch today so he can carry out the plan. Richard took a deep breath and gathered as much motivation, steadiness and to get rid of the nerves before popping the question to Nicole.

"Hey Richie!" said Nicole, as she walked into the part of the parking lot where most of their friends hang out at. "Did you want to talk to me about something?"

"Yeah of course!" Richard replied. "I just didn't want to bring it up in 3rd period because I thought it would be better to tell you in a 1 on 1 setting." As both of them went inside her car to talk further to have a sense of privacy.

"So Nicole, we're both friends right?" Richard said, to start off the conversation.

"Of course we are," she replied. "Why would either one of us think otherwise?"

"Well..." gulps Richard. "I've...I've been thinking about this for a while and I wasn't sure how to bring this up." he said, as he twiddled with fingers very often to the point where Nicole noticed closely.

And with a final gulp and courage, Richard asked Nicole the question. "I was wondering... would yo-you go ou- out with m-me?" he said with a bit of nerves still left him, but enough courage to push it through.

Nicole was actually really shocked to hear Richard ask her that question, she was rather flattered and surprised. But just like all of Richard's chances with anyone, the same ol' answer came out of her mouth in a reply. "I would love to Richard! But the problem is, I'm already going out with someone else. We started going out a few weeks ago and I just see you more like a brother to me."

After hearing the answer, Richard's heart shattered and just about everything within him broke like glass, especially his heart. He shouldn't be surprised about the answer, he thought to himself. But why does it happen every time?

"Oh" he said, with a clear broken heart mumble. "Well-sorry for wasting your time then" as he got out of the car and headed towards Jennifer and the others to tell them what he just got told.

"Well... how did it go?" said Jennifer.

"About as well-like every other time, she's going out with someone else and has been doing so for about a few weeks." he said, with a bitter mood.

Everyone wasn't so surprised to hear, but clearly felt bad for him.

"Maybe you should've told him that back then..." said Jessica from the back.

"Excuse me...?" inquired Richard quickly. "What do you mean... back then? You mean to tell me all of you knew this back then and didn't tell me until now?"

"Well... you see." Jennifer said nervously. "Nicole did indeed started to go out with this guy from Bishops back then and when it happened, she told me that she wouldn't ever be interested in you like that, if you ever asked."

Richard then went from being sad and disappointment to confusion and becoming even more upset.

"So, then why didn't you tell me that? So, you wouldn't hurt my feelings?" he replied.

"Right." Jennifer replied. "But you see, I-"

"I don't want to fucking hear it" he intervened. "If all of you were really my friends, you would actually tell me this ahead of time, so I don't come into this situation looking like an unaware jackass ready to be broken again over the same thing I hear from every other person I like. I really wish you guys looked out for me, cared for me and like me the same way I treat all of you because I really do like all of you a lot as friends."

"But you decided it was best to put me through this again without telling me? Even when all of you know that I get rejected all of the fucking time?" he continued on. "Even with the fact that you all knew this for two weeks? You know fucking what? That's it. I'm done, y'all want to treat me like that? Well, all of you get what you've always wanted, I'm out of this fucking dump. Don't expect to see me again" Richard angrily finished, as he grabbed his backpack and walked off from that part of the parking lot before turning back around to say one more thing to his disgraced friends.

"Apparently, watching me crumble and break over and over again is better than to save me from it? Some friends I have." as he walked off the school campus.

Nicole got out of the car and noticed her fellow twin sister and other friends stood there in complete shock and disbelief.

"What happened?" Nicole inquired. "What did he tell you guys?"

"He snapped and got really furious at us." Brad replied, one of Richard's teammates from football and a brother figure to him.

"But why?" Nicole asked.

"Because he got upset that we withheld the fact that you decided to go out with Carson from Bishops for about a few weeks and told him you would never go out with him like that."

Nicole quickly realized that Richard actually never knew about the new relationship until now and was puzzled by why no one ever told him prior to today.

"Why didn't any of you guys ever told him that? It would've saved the outburst of emotion and anger he just did. What's wrong with you guys?" Nicole said in a very annoyed tone.

No one said a word back.

"I can't believe you guys, especially you Jennifer" Nicole continued. "I may indeed not like Richard the same way he does for a relationship, but I still like him as a brother to me because he treats me and all of us like we mean something to him. He takes care of us with respect, love, and concern. He's always there for us whenever we needed someone to talk to about our problems and just about everything a great friend will do. We need to go to his house after school and apologize for the bullshit you guys put him through. He doesn't deserve this!"

The group agreed, but weren't sure if Richard would even hear them out after what just occurred.


	3. Chapter 3: Farewell Home

"I never knew how easy it is to escape if you don't mind leaving nearly everything behind." ― Beth Revis.

* * *

After the outburst earlier in the day, Richard decided he had enough. The best thing for him to do at this point was to leave home behind and go elsewhere, he didn't want to put up with anymore of the bullshit that they've put him through.

"The lies, the bait, the fake persona, I'm just done with them." he said to himself, as he prepares to leave home. "Luckily for them, they'll get what they always wanted: Me away from all of them." as he continued to write down a lengthy note to plaster on his door in case anyone actually cared to come by his house and see where he was.

He plastered the note on his door, locked the door, and left his key in his secured mailbox so no one would be able to go inside his house in case he ever did decide to come back. But with the mood at the very moment, there wasn't a chance of that happening. He walked away from the premises of his house, through the neighborhood and right before he went full steam ahead, he took a quick look at the school and friends he would leave behind.

"Y'all finally got what you wanted. Maybe you will all be happy finally." he said, as he continued on leaving behind his town.

* * *

After school as they all promised, Nicole and the others made the walk to Richard's house to try to see if he's willing to talk to them about what happened and give a thoughtful apology. When they got to the front of his door, they noticed a note that was plastered for about a few hours and all of them were curious as to what the note enclosed.

"Let's see what the note says before we knock on his door" suggested Jennifer.

Nicole then took the note off the door and decided to read the note to see if it tells them if Richie was home or not and if he was gone, where did he go?

"To whoever it may concern that is actually reading this note on my door, I am not home at the moment and I don't really planning on coming back home as of this written note. I'm just tired of trying to be a great understanding friend to everyone only to get shitted on in return for almost everything I've done trying to help.

It's something I have been feeling for a while now, just didn't know the right time to announce such until this writing. It really hurts to be taken advantage of and used like a 7-Eleven and then thrown out like a gumball wrapper when people are done with their short visit and I'm not striving to be like that, I just want to become the best of a friend to anyone that I'm friends with.

So after a recent incident at school, I decided that living in this city isn't just for me anymore. Call it immature or whatever you want, but I think after putting up with a lot of bullshit for years and being treated like I don't mean anything to anyone, this is the right move for me. I'm sorry you all had to waste your time meeting and dealing with me, I promise all of that is over now. Enjoy the rest of your lives without my presence around to be an anchor. And no it wasn't because of Nicole rejecting me, I already knew that was going to happen, but it's just the other main issue I've outlined has been my grip but do indeed make the rest of your lives great and strive for your hopes and dreams without me around to be a sore eye view.

\- Sincerely, Richie."

"Oh my god..." said Nicole, with a complete shock on her face. "He's not coming back."

"Shit.. that means he isn't here." replied Jennifer. "What do we do now?"

The three girls of Jennifer, Nicole, and Jessica were all stumped. They didn't think Richard would just leave in the way that he did, but the letter made sense as to why he did. They much felt guilty but weren't sure of how to resolve it without Richard around to do so. Jessica decided to curiously look inside his mailbox and noticed a key inside.

"I found a key!" said Jessica. "It's his house key, we have to go inside to see if there's evidence of where he might have gone of to."

The other two weren't so sure about coming in into his house without him knowing, but they knew that they had to in order to find evidence of where he may have gone to.

So without hesitation, the three girls went inside his house and looked every for potential clues of where Richard could've gone to. So far, they couldn't really find much in regarding his whereabouts. They were discouraged but knew that they had to keep looking if it meant finding and bringing him back home.

"Let's go check his computer desk" suggested Jessica. "He might have something there regarding his whereabouts, I'm sure he had written it down somewhere."

They all decided to go check that said desk to see if any information was there, then they found a number of clues from the desk.

"I found a list of locations he wrote down, it looks like he was doing research on these places to see which one he would move to." stated Nicole.

"What are the names of the places?" inquired Jennifer.

"Places I don't even know existed in this world, it says as it follows: Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola. It also has some other information about the places listed here as well."

"Those places don't ring a bell." Jessica said. "But which one did he go to? Those places sound like their not within town but very, very far."

As they were all about to diverge into thinking, Jessica noticed some paper on the desk behind the list of places document that had the title of "Ticket confi-"

"Hey wait a minute guys!" Jessica said, as she quickly went for that paper and quickly confirmed what she saw: a ticket confirmation document of Richard's departure.

"It says here that he booked it not too long ago and says that he's heading to Alola."

The three girls were in complete shock, they had no idea where Alola is, what the place was, and how they would even get there.

"What are we going to do?" Jennifer said in complete shock.

"We have to go and get him back," Nicole said. "Even if it is a big region and an unknown place to us, we owe it to him to get him back home. We will go to Alola next week first thing."

Jessica and Jennifer were a bit shocked by the idea, but they knew they had to rescue their friend and this was the only way of doing so.


End file.
